Hop Bomb IPA
Boatrocker Brewers & Distillers

Good night Australia, Its been fun! A nice send off, a clear crisp, tasty IPA. Bold but accessible, pine resin but enough malt to capture the novice’s attention. A new appreciation Of IPA from a different perspective.

 

From bottle, Orange amber, med white head. Aroma apricot, mango, melon.A little floral, some honey. Tastes tropical fruits, melon, honey and caramel malts.

 

 

Had on tap.

Big and hoppy, as the name suggests with big pine, citrus, grapefruit, melon and caramel all coming through and combining well. Balanced, with the hops shining.

Hop Bomb, Hop Bomb!?! - wait to throw down the gauntlet Boatrocker. This better be a good fu[REDACTED]ing IPA. I mean it - you don’t name a beer “hop bomb” unless you have dumped into it a kaleidoscope of excellent hops (including my new favourite hop: Mosaic). With a name like “hop bomb” this brew is up against Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA - my third favourite beer of all time. I wish you luck Boatrocker, but I’m almost certain you won’t be up to the challenge.

Poured from a 330ml bottle into a nonic pint.

A: Sunburst orange body with yeast particles floating around and a chalky 3mm cream head on top. Not bad, could benefit from better head retention, and the bubbles are a bit big compared to other IPAs, hopefully it’s not gassy - I hate gassy beers. 7/10.

S: Earthy hop notes upfront, followed by the classic American IPA citric/pine characters. Quite earthy, I’ve noticed this a lot in Australian craft IPAs, and I give this new earthy trend a big thumbs up. For me what is lacking compared to the Deschutes brew are those massive tropical hop notes - this “hop bomb” certainly isn’t living up to its name thus far. 7/10.

T: Wow (the bad “wow” btw) the hops really lack in the flavour department, and there is an unexpected funky note to this brew. Dry hopped? Really? How many hop cones were used in the dry hopping Boatrocker? Five? The palate starts out promising with that earthy tone and a biscuity caramel malt base, but then it descends into a hop obscurity with a piney/citric hop slight bitter finish. West Coast IPA? Yes the hops are definitely have that classic West Coast allure, however this brew sadly needs many more, and a greater variety of; hops. 6/10.

M: Mid to light bodied with a nice tight packed carbonation. 7/10.

D: Biggest “meh” brew I’ve had in a while. There is little to distinguish this from any other West Coast styled Australian IPA, and much less hop flavour than you would expect given the name. I have a bottle of their Misfit to review but counting down to my 500th review it might have to sit in my fridge door till after I’ve reached that milestone. In any case if you want a good West Coast styled IPA you can’t beat... any actual West Coast IPAs - just buy American instead of Boatrocker’s Hop Bomb, you will be glad that you did. 6/10.

Food match: Beef steaks or general BBQ fare.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a gold colour, slight cloud, snow-white head, foamy and sticks around with average lace. Alright.

Smell is gorgeous. Caramel malt with lemon, passionfruit and a big sticky mango aroma. Lovely.

Taste is bready-malty, with a touch of honey. Some light lemon and passionfruity hop on the back, but a little lacking. Balanced enough, but the hop flavour that was potentially promised by the nose was amazing, and it's not quite there.

Full body, a little flat, but decent enough.

Not a bad pale ale, but not really IPA-level at all. Needs more.

Pours dark amber/copper with a large, lasting head.
Nose shows fruit confectionery, big melon, paw-paw and lychee notes. Also some sweet clean malt underneath.
Some of the fruit transfers through as flavours but its more about the masses of sweet malt. An assertive bittterness follows but not enough to fight the malt.
Carbonation is a bit full-on.

 

Tried on-tap at the GABS festival in Melbourne. Boatrocker have recently set up their own brewery, after contracting for a while, but I'm not sure yet if this beer came from that brewery.

Pours a pale orange colour without a lot of hazing. Body is light, with a full, lovely crest of yellow-white. Lacing is patchy, but decent enough. Overall it looks pretty good.

Nose smells like nothing other than Simcoe to me: big bright orange characters laced with a sweetness a little like butterscotch. It gives it that quality of being sharp from the citrus, but blunt from the sweetness. Backed up with a slight caramel character that adds some richness. Nice.

Taste is quite light on the entry, in fact even slightly watery, not aided by a very weak feel. Some clean orange flavours come through mid palate, as does the taste of caramel which moves to a fragrant toffee note later. Some aromatic hops stick around on the back. Aftertaste is clean, but with that blunted character again.

Overall, it's decent enough. It has some nice characters and drinks reasonably well. More than anything though, it's just generic: I feel as though there must be better ways of selling yourself.